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Happy 2012 everybody! It’s good to be back after a decent sized layoff from Chatterbox Blogging. I look to be getting back into the full swing of things in the near future, but I want to share my joy from the end of 2011 and my big plans for 2012!

Christmas was amazing (as expected). My daughter had such a big day and unwrapped so many new toys for Daddy to play with. My family added to my A Christmas Story village, and I got the most precious ornament ever (I’ll update with a video soon). It’s a plastic Christmas Tree ornament and when I pushed the little button on the back, there was a little voice that plays and it says “Merry Christmas, Daddy!”… it was my girl’s little voice. How precious! Remember how I said the Ninja Turtles Dueling Dudes was my best Christmas gift ever? Yeah, it’s been replaced. Best… Christmas… Ever!

In closing, 2011 brought many new things my way. I got in a full first year at my new job with Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, I replaced my DSLR camera that was stolen this past summer, Zoe is finally 100% accident free potty trained, and we bought Family Season Passes to the Columbus Zoo which turned out to be a GREAT investment.

2012 looks to be gearing up for big time excitement as well! We’ve already been to Disney on Ice: Dare to Dream and had a blast and look to do some more special things this season. As far as resolutions go, I don’t really have one. I like to make daily resolutions and set goals for the year. Here goes…

1) Create a new Toy Review website

This has already been completed. Kikzengiggles.com is up and running, but I am still making many adjustments to the site as I go. Look for many changes and hopefully some contests soon! Be sure to ‘follow’ on twitter @Kikzengiggles and ‘like’ us at facebook.com/Kikzengiggles

2) Take Zoe to see the Giraffes

We have gone many times to the Columbus Zoo and each time, Zoe has been dying to see a Giraffe. There are no Giraffes at the Columbus Zoo. This year, we’re planning on taking her to either Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, or the Wilds so she can have an encounter with some Giraffes (her favorite animal). That is the first goal of the year.

3) Making wiser decisions when it comes to food & drink

In 2011, I ate waaaayyyy too much fast food and had waaaayyyy too many sugary sodas to drink. This year so far, I’ve had none and plan to keep it that way. This is not a resolution that I want to lose weight and fit into size 30 jeans. This is simply a goal for living a healthier life and getting some good old-fashioned energy back! Exercising may be in the future, but I’ve been feeling pretty great with changing some eating habits. So again, I’m not making this a resolution to “lose weight”, but more of a goal to live a healthier life.

4) Yoga

“May the force be with you!” Oh wait! Thats YODA. Yoga has been something that has interested me for the longest time. Not so much for the tight sweatpants and tiny mats, but from my understanding, Yoga helps with every day aches and pains. At 27 years of age, I have more of an irritating back ache, my ankle gets sore from time to time (depending on the weather), and every so often I get headaches from a soreness in my neck. I don’t believe this is how a 27 year old should feel, so I’m looking to change that this year as well. If anybody knows any good DVDs to get started with, please share!

5) A Puppy!

The deal in the house was that as soon as Zoe was accident free with her potty training and no longer needed pull ups, then we would get her a puppy. Naturally within a couple of weeks, she was accident free and transformed into a big girl… who wants her puppy! We’re currently seeking out the right batch of puppies! 😀

and lastly…

6) Disneyland!

I feel it is time to take little miss Zoe to Disneyland. We’re planning and saving for this trip so that we can go in October this year. If it was a simple trip to say we went, it would be no problem, but my goal is to save up enough for a loaded trip full of character visits, overloading on merchandise, and going and seeing some nice things in the area. This will take some time to save for, but we’re super excited and the anticipation is already building for Mommy and I.

So that pretty much wraps up our plans for 2012! If this year turns out to be our last year on the planet, then we’re going out with a party! Please leave a comment below. I’m excited to hear your plans for the year! Be sure to follow me on twitter @Chatterbox4REAL and @Kikzengiggles and check out Kikzengiggles.com!

Lanny and Wayne are at it again with ABC’s new half-hour special “Naughty vs. Nice” set to premiere December 5th!

The sequel to the original hit will feature a couple of new elves… including a member of the Coal Bucket Brigade; Wayne’s estranged brother Noel. Noel is called upon as the naughty child expert when the North Pole is hacked and their super top-secret information is compromised. This one looks to be a little more chaotic than the last one, but we’re totally looking forward to it in my house!

For me, Prep & Landing is a throwback to the Christmas Specials that were on when I was a kid. Growing up, all of our favorite cartoons had some kind of Holiday special… whether it was for Halloween, Thanksgiving, or Christmas. These days, a lot of production companies aren’t even bothering to produce Christmas specials. I don’t know if they don’t make any money or what, but I’m certainly grateful that Disney keeps giving us installments of Prep & Landing.

Speaking of Prep & Landing…

Make sure you pick up the Prep & Landing DVD set to release on November 22nd. This features the original Prep & Landing special as well as the animated short, “Operation: Secret Santa”. There might be some special release giveaways with this one, but if not and you don’t want to pay $14.99 for it, then you can snag it from Toys ‘R’ Us on Black Friday for $9.99. Can’t really beat that for a quality Christmas Special. I think that wraps it up for this edition. Be sure to follow me on twitter @Chatterbox4REAL

Disney announced earlier in the week that there will be a follow-up to their 2010 hit Tangled. This one will be coming in the form of an animated short attached to the theatrical release of Beauty and the Beast 3D in theatres, January 13th.

From what I understand, this takes off right where Tangled left off. This is centered around the wedding and all the madness leading up to the “big day”. Pascal is the “Flower Chameleon” and Maximus is the ring bearer that ends up losing the wedding bands. As you can imagine, this is going to be a pretty wild short to prep the audience for Beauty and the Beast 3D!

I’d love to read you comments on this. The Lion King re-release was spectacular, so we’ll have no problem in spending the cash to check out Beauty and the Beast. I have a 3 year old who loves these classics and absolutely LOVES Tangled. I hope to see you there! Be sure to follow me on twitter @Chatterbox4REAL and click Subscribe on my blog link as I will be posting any updates I receive on this as well as merchandise for this special animated short! You know they’ll make it (they had TONS for Toy Story “Hawaiian Vacation”) and I’LL have the info you want on it! Until next time…